


Evensong

by Princess of Geeks (Princess)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Season 3: Demons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 15:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3415295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess/pseuds/Princess%20of%20Geeks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "Demons," Teal'c tries to understand the Christian-based culture of the planet where he nearly died.</p>
<p>I believe this was written for a gen-fic challenge run by Fig Newton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evensong

When Daniel arrived at Teal'c's quarters, Sam was already there.

She was standing in the open door with her arms folded, waiting, in civilian dress, as Teal'c shrugged into a jacket. 

"Um," Daniel said.

"Doctor Fraiser has cleared me, and Captain Carter has secured permission for me to leave Stargate Command for twenty-four hours," Teal'c said.

"Great," Daniel said. "I just. I was wanting to... where are you going?"

"Out," Sam said, more tersely than he was used to hearing from her. "Come with us."

"Um, okay. I have to change."

"Meet us at my place," Sam said, and she took Teal'c by the arm, hardly waiting for him to grab a watch cap before she was tugging him away, up the gray corridor toward the elevator. 

Daniel was still standing there, bemused, looking at the closed door to Teal'c's quarters, when he heard cautious footsteps behind him. He turned to see Jack.

"They just left," Daniel said.

"What?" Jack said. There was a butterfly bandage on his eyebrow, Daniel noted. The blow he'd suffered back on the planet would probably leave a scar. What would Teal'c be left with?

"Come on," Daniel said, heading for the locker room. "I'll explain on the way."

At Sam's cottage, Daniel and Sam drank wine -- a cheap white that Sam apologized for, over Daniel's protestations that it was fine; he was the antithesis of a wine snob. All four of them looked a little stiff, a little formal, crammed into Sam's small living room. Daniel and Sam spent a couple of awkward moments talking about what bad wine one became inured to in grad school, but Teal'c interrupted them. He and Jack were drinking ice water. 

"The only vehicle capable of transporting all of us comfortably will be your Volvo sedan, Captain Carter," Teal'c said. "And we will need to depart in approximately twenty of your minutes in order to arrive early."

"Early for what?" Jack said.

Sam was looking at the carpet, her fingers white-tipped on her wineglass. "The evening service at Grace and St. Stephen's, sir."

Daniel said absently, "That's the Episcopal church downtown, but aren't you -- and Jack, for that matter, Cath--"

"Open communion," Sam said, still looking at the floor.

"Ah," Daniel said.

"What?" Jack said again, glancing from Daniel to Sam.

Daniel set down his wine glass, then reconsidered and took it up again. He wasn't going to be driving, after all, and a gulp or two of wine before church sounded like a really good idea.

Teal'c turned the full force of his gaze on Jack.

"Captain Carter was entirely willing to accompany me to a church service tonight. After reading your Bible, and after the events of the most recent mission, I had a desire to see firsthand how the rituals and observances of the Christians on Earth differed from that of Simon and Mary's planet."

"Ah," Jack said. 

Daniel cleared his throat. "Of course. The people of that world were most likely descendants of a Roman Catholic tradition, since that was prevalent in medieval Europe, which, on the basis of admittedly sketchy evidence, it seemed we were facing... but the Catholic tradition today here --"

"Daniel," Sam said, "I'm by no means an observant Catholic, but I figured it would be better to take Teal'c to a service that was similar, but which had open communion, if he wanted the full experience."

"I see," Daniel said, at the same time that Jack said, "Oh, crap," which resulted in everyone looking at Jack.

"What?" Jack responded. "I told you not to give away the ending."

"You don't expect us to believe that ridiculous remark about you listening to the Bible on tape," Daniel said.

"On the contrary," Teal'c interjected. "The Bible is indeed available on tape."

"Jack was pulling... Jack was making a joke," Daniel said, crisply.

Sam put her half-drunk glass on the coffee table. "I should change," she said, and vanished down the hallway to what was presumably her bedroom.

"Explain," Teal'c said.

"It was a joke. Really," Jack said, reluctantly, into Teal'c's demanding gaze. "I was raised Catholic. All the way. I wasn't listening to the Bible on tape. I read it all, years ago. Repeatedly. I just..."

His turn to look down. His turn for Daniel to finish.

"Jack knows how it turns out," he said. 

A silence fell.

"As do you," Teal'c said, turning his questioning gaze on Daniel. Daniel found he wanted to swallow in the face of it. He resisted. "Yes, I do. I'm not a Christian, but I've read the Bible, and studied quite a bit of church history, and the history of the Jewish people that preceded Christianity."

"You understand my desire to see these rituals first hand."

"I do," Daniel said.

"Will you accompany Captain Carter and myself?"

"I will," Daniel said. "It's not--" 

Jack, to Daniel's lasting astonishment, broke in. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Teal'c. And I'm really glad Junior was able to keep you from..." He winced. "Drowning."

Daniel closed his eyes, impolite and improper references from Monty Python warring with quotes from the Malleus Maleficarum in his mind. He felt his brain might explode.

Teal'c said, "You expressed as much on that planet."

Jack went on, clearly uncomfortable, "There's a lot of good in the teachings. You just... You didn't see any of it at its best, there."

Daniel drew breath, but Teal'c was already speaking.

"It seems that I did. In the words and behavior of Simon."

"Well. Yeah," Jack said. He noticed Sam's abandoned glass, and picked it up. He took a gulp. Daniel winced in sympathy. Jack, he'd noticed, only drank red wine, when he drank wine at all. And this wine really was pretty awful. Jack put down the glass and turned the stem, making the glass rotate where it sat on the coffee table. Daniel waited for him to speak, but the moment passed.

"I'm ready," came a voice from the hall, and there was Sam, in a sober and becoming maroon dress, and the high heels she wore with her dress blues. Instinctively, Daniel stood up, Jack right behind him and Teal'c a beat behind the two of them.

"Great," Daniel said, to fill the silence. Then they all filed out, clustering on the porch while Sam locked the door. She turned and took Teal'c's arm.

Jack sighed. "You all will excuse me if I bow out of this particular field trip?"

Sam raised her eyebrows, and Teal'c's face assumed the impassive expression that Daniel had learned could mean anything.

"Of course," Teal'c said, and with a nod to the group, Jack preceded them down the steps.

Daniel watched his back recede, and then followed Sam and Teal'c to Sam's car. It would be nice, he thought, to hear the liturgy, probably with organ music, and put all thoughts of drills and demons out of his mind. It might be soothing. And educational. For Teal'c. 

Yeah. He could do this. He turned toward the car, and as he did he saw Teal'c put his hands behind his back, which Daniel had learned was a gesture of respect.

"And O'Neill, perhaps, unbeknownst to us," he said, as Jack's truck passed them and went on down the quiet street, out of sight, "has demons of his own."

Daniel met Sam's understanding eyes.

"Maybe he does," she said thoughtfully, and got in the car.


End file.
